A copy of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" autographed by all four band members. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)

(Newser)
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The Fab Four shattered another record yesterday, when a ultra-rare signed copy of their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album fetched a rather staggering $290,500 at auction—significantly topping the $30,000 that the auctioneer had predicted. "I consider this to be one of the top two items of Beatles memorabilia I've ever seen," said a Beatles expert; the other, a signed copy of Meet the Beatles, sold for $150,000. The copy of Sgt. Pepper's was signed by all four Beatles, probably around its June 1967 release, notes the Hollywood Reporter, and sold to an unnamed buyer from the Midwest.

I wonder if my autographed copy of the first-state "Butcher" cover is worth a few bucks?

thingy

Mar 31, 2013 5:29 PM CDT

GeorgeL: my mother worked at a factory that made album covers for the vinyl records. In the summer of 1963 she brought home a glossy picture (the paper that's glued to the cardboard) that she had rolled up and put into her purse. She said "Look at these guys. Aren't they funny-looking?! Especially the one sitting here. And Beatles - what kind of a name is that?!". It was the cover of Introducing The Beatles on Vee-Jay label, and the funny-looking one was Paul (the look on his face on the photo). We had never heard of The Beatles and ignored it - until November when "I Want To Hold Your Hand" became the staple of the AM airwaves. We bought Meet The Beatles (Capital Records) in Dec. 1963 but didn't even find Introducing The Beatles (Vee-Jay label) until later. Look on the bottom right corner of your old Capital Records releases for any artist up until 1981; if you see the number 5, my mother handled the picture on the cardboard! That's the plant number of the factory, and she worked in the Burbank, CA factory (Modern Album of California, Inc.). We were fortunate to see every Beatles album cover prior to release, and the double-spread albums made great school textbook covers that were the envy of everyone at school! A bonus was the banned Yesterday & Today album that we got, because my mother carpooled to work with the company delivery truck driver, and when they had the recall and had to collect them from the distributors, he gave us one (unfortunately we were young and played the record to death, not realizing what it would someday become). Who could have guessed that our youthful mania could become cultural icons! (By the way, my Thingy I.D. name is in reference to the Fiendish Thingy that George Harrison exclaims about during the curling game in the movie Help!).